The Mountains of Ireland

Croaghaun on Achill Island, where the rugged cliff face drops into the Atlantic.

A wisp of cloud creeps across the shoulder of Brandon Mountain in Co Kerry.

Walkers climb onto Galtymore, with Galtybeg seen beyond, in the heart of Ireland.

The idea with this book was to research, write and illustrate a guidebook that contained walking routes to every distinct mountain summit over 2000ft throughout Ireland.

The mountains of Ireland are often broad, bleak, boggy, rocky and pathless. There were 212 summits to visit, with 200 of them being over 2000ft, and the remaining 12 being over 3000ft. Locating them all on maps was the first task, while locating walking routes to each and every summit often seemed like an insurmountable task!

The route research required three separate trips to the mountains, with each trip lasting for a month, spread over a period of six months, starting one spring and finishing in the autumn. The book has been reprinted a couple of times and sells well, but the number of people known to have climbed to every summit remains surprisingly low.

In a review in Strider magazine, Alan Castle said, "The Mountains of Ireland will be seen as something of a landmark in the history of Irish hillwalking literature."